A volunteer NSW firefighter will not be sacked despite swearing at Scott Morrison during this summer's bushfire crisis.
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Rural Fire Service volunteer Paul Parker, from Nelligen on the NSW south coast, said he was dismissed after telling the prime minister to "go and get f***ed".
The RFS said this was not the case.
"We can confirm Paul remains a member of the NSW RFS and has not been dismissed," it said.
Mr Morrison is pleased with the clarification.
"There should never be any question about whether he should have been fired or not; of course, he shouldn't," he told reporters on Monday.
"I understand Paul was feeling incredibly exhausted and incredibly drained by those events and he was working his tail off defending his community."
Mr Morrison suspects the spray came after he suggested tired volunteer crews wanted to be out defending their communities.
"I never said that firefighters enjoyed doing this," the prime minister said.
"What I said was that firefighters would be out there defending their communities, they would want to be out there defending their communities, when their communities were at risk."
Australian Associated Press